CONTENTS Contents

Symbols 8 Introduction 9

Section 1: Open Games 11

Italian Game 12 Perfect Centre 12 Exchanges 13 14 Møller Attack 14 Evans 16 Two Knights 19 Two Knights Main Line 19 Max Lange Attack 20 ’s Gambit 22 Rare 2nd moves 24 Petroff 26 Philidor 28 Four Knights 30 31 34 Kingside Manoeuvres 34 Ruy Lopez Part 1 36 Berlin 36 Third-Move Alternatives 38 Ruy Lopez Part 2 40 Lopez 40 Steinitz Deferred 41 Open Lopez 42 Møller 44 Ruy Lopez Part 3 46 Marshall Attack 46 Anti-Marshall 48 Early d4 49 Chigorin 49 Breyer 51 Zaitsev 52 Closed Lopez: Other Systems 53 4 UNDERSTANDING THE OPENINGS

Section 2: Semi-Open Games 54

Sicilian 55 Dragon Set-up 55 Scheveningen Set-up 55 Najdorf Set-up 56 Maroczy Bind Set-up 56 c-File 56 Dragon 57 Accelerated Dragon 60 Classical (and Richter-Rauzer) 61 Sozin 62 Scheveningen (and Keres Attack) 63 Classical Scheveningen 64 Taimanov 66 Kan 67 Najdorf (and English Attack) 68 Najdorf Íg5 71 Najdorf Íc4 74 Najdorf Íe2 (and Other Moves) 76 Sveshnikov 77 Kalashnikov 79 Moscow & Rossolimo 81 Grand Prix Attack 82 Closed Sicilian 83 c3 Sicilian 84 4 Ëxd4 and Other Sidelines 85 French 87 -Chain 87 Bad Bishop 87 Exchange French 88 Advance French 88 Tarrasch 90 Rubinstein 92 Winawer 93 Classical 94 Caro-Kann 96 Open Centre 96 Exchange & Panov-Botvinnik 96 Advance Caro-Kann 98 Main Line: 4...Íf5 (and Deviations) 99 Main Line: 4...Ìd7 (and 4...Ìf6) 101 Alekhine 103 Scandinavian 105 Nimzowitsch 107 CONTENTS 5

Pirc/Modern 108 Austrian 108 Classical 109 150 Attack 110 P„ibyl Pirc 111 Gurgenidze 112 113 Anti-Pirc 114 Owen’s Defence 115

Section 3: ’s Gambit 116

Light-Squared Bishop 116 Queen’s Gambit Accepted 117 3 e4 117 3 Ìf3 with 4 e3 119 Two Knights (4 Ìc3) 120 Queen’s Gambit Declined 122 Carlsbad Structure 122 Orthodox & Lasker 122 Tartakower 124 Exchange 125 5 Íf4 126 Catalan 127 Tarrasch & Semi-Tarrasch 128 Cambridge Springs 130 Slav 132 Main Line with 6...e6 (and Early Deviations) 132 Main Line with 6...Ìbd7 134 Early e3 135 ...a6 Slav 135 Exchange Slav 137 Semi-Slav 138 5 Íg5 138 5 e3 and the Meran 140 Wedge Variation 142 Chigorin and Unusual Lines 143 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 145

Section 4: Indian Defences 146

Nimzo-Indian 147 6 UNDERSTANDING THE CHESS OPENINGS

The Isolated Queen’s Pawn 148 Idea for White No. 1: d4-d5 Advance 148 Idea for White No. 2: Central Attack 148 Idea for White No. 3: Kingside Attack 149 Idea for White No. 4: Queenside Play 149 Idea for Black: Simplification 149 Working on the Queenside Weaknesses 149 Sämisch & 4 f3 150 Rubinstein 151 Leningrad 153 Kasparov Variation 155 Classical (4 Ëc2) & Others 156 Queen’s Indian 158 4 g3 158 4 a3 160 4 e3 & 4 Íf4 161 Bogo-Indian 163 King’s Indian 165 Pawn-Storms 165 Classical: Introduction 166 Classical Main Line 168 Sämisch 170 Four Pawns 172 Fianchetto 174 Averbakh and Unusual Lines 175 Grünfeld 177 Grünfeld Centre 177 Exchange: Introduction & Classical 177 Modern Exchange 180 Russian System 182 Fianchetto 183 Early Bishop Moves (and Minor Lines) 184 Benoni Systems 186 186 189 Dutch 191 Stonewall 191 Leningrad 193 Classical 194 Odds & Ends 195 Trompowsky 196 Torre, Barry and Colle 198 Veresov 199 ...d6 System 200 Black Knights’ Tango & Budapest 201 CONTENTS 7

Section 5: Flank Openings 203

English 204 Symmetrical: Queenside Play 204 Symmetrical: Central Play 205 Symmetrical: 207 Four Knights 208 Botvinnik System 209 Reversed Dragon 210 Nimzo-English 211 Réti 213 Anti-Grünfelds 215 216 Bird’s Opening 217 Larsen’s Opening 218 Dunst Opening 219 Basman’s Opening 220

Index of Variations 221 SCOTCH GAME Scotch Game

1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 d4 (D) has called the Scotch r+lwkvnt Game “the only serious alternative to the Ruy B zpzp+pzp Lopez”. He tends to be well up on such things so his opinion is worth attention. White im- -+n+-+-+ mediately pulls the trigger on d4, liquidating +-+-+-+- Black’s central strong-point and opening up -+-SP+-+ further lines for his pieces. This advance cannot be profitably prepared +-+-+-+- with 3 c3, the , since after PZP+-ZPZ 3...Ìf6 4 d4 Ìxe4 5 d5 Ìe7 6 Ìxe5 Ìg6 7 Ëd4Ëe78Ëxe4Ëxe59Ëxe5+Ìxe510 TNVQML+R Íf4 Íd6! the endgame holds no dangers for Black. This targets the e4-pawn, and so forces some sort of concession. r+lwkvnt 4...Íc5 5 Íe3 Ëf6 6 c3 (6 Ìb5 has been B zpzp+pzp played by Ponomariov, but for anyone who hasn’t been a world champion recently the -+n+-+-+ move carries a health warning – after 6...Íxe3 +-+-z-+- 7 fxe3 the doubled e-pawns control a lot of -+-ZP+-+ squares but are still extremely ugly, and after 7...Ëh4+ 8 g3 Black can drop back to d8 or +-+-+N+- play 8...Ëxe4 9 Ìxc7+ Êd8 10 Ìxa8 Ëxh1 PZP+-ZPZ with an utterly unclear game) 6...Ìge7 is an- other main line, rapidly developing and pre- TNVQML+R paring ...d5. After 7 Íc4 Ìe5!? (7...b6 8 0-0 Íb7, preparing to castle queenside, is an ex- cellent alternative) 8 Íe2 Ëg6 White sacri- 3...exd4 fices the e4-pawn; for instance, 9 0-0 d6 10 f4 Black is really obliged to capture White’s Ëxe4 11 Íf2 Íxd4 12 cxd4 Ì5g6 13 g3 pawn. Íh3 14 Íf3 Ëf5 15 Îe1 d5 16 Ëb3 0-0 17 3...d6 gives a bad Philidor, with the Ìc3 c6 18 Ëxb7 Îfb8 19 Ëc7 Ëf6 with committed to c6. equality. 4 Ìxd4 (D) 4...Íb4+!? 5 c3 Íc5 is also popular at 4 c3, the Göring Gambit, is less exciting top level – Black provokes c3 to prevent the than it looks. Black can claim immediate white knight from developing naturally on equality with 4...d5, or accept the challenge this square, without having to resort to with 4...dxc3 5 Ìxc3 Íb4 6 Íc4 d6 7 Ëb3 ...Ëf6. Ëe7 when White has enough for the pawn, 4...Ëh4?! is extremely risky. White can but no more than that. play 5 Ìb5 immediately, but 5 Ìc3 Íb4 6 4...Ìf6 Ìb5 looks even better, when 6...Ëxe4+ 7 32 UNDERSTANDING THE CHESS OPENINGS

Íe2 gives White a truckload of compensa- tion. r+l+kv-t 5 Ìxc6 W z-zpwpzp 5 Ìc3 Íb4 transposes to the Scotch Four Knights. -+p+-s-+ 5...bxc6 (D) +-+-Z-+- Not, of course, 5...dxc6? 6 Ëxd8+ Êxd8, -+-+-+-+ when Black has no for his crippled pawn-majority in the endgame. +-+-+-+- PZP+-ZPZ r+lwkv-t TNVQML+R W z-zp+pzp

-+p+-s-+ than the white queen, which will be tied to +-+-+-+- the e5-pawn. I’ve tried to present this as if -+-+P+-+ ...Ëe7 “conforms to the demands of the posi- tion”, but in fact any such statements in the +-+-+-+- context of opening theory are at worst incor- PZP+-ZPZ rect and at best post hoc – players started playing 6...Ëe7 because Black was getting TNVQML+R creamed after 6...Ìd5 and needed to look for alternatives, found this one and discovered it worked. Black’s trumps, as will become apparent, 7...Ìd5 8 c4 (D) are that he can develop all of his pieces quickly to good squares. On the other hand, White holds a structural advantage. Thus r+l+kv-t Black’s job is to generate some relevant play B z-zpwpzp in the next few moves, while White needs just to get out of the opening alive to claim a -+p+-+-+ long-term edge. +-+nZ-+- 6 e5 -+P+-+-+ Now the knight is threatened without any stable squares available, so Black must be ac- +-+-+-+- curate to avoid falling into passivity. PZ-+QZPZ 6...Ëe7! (D) 7 Ëe2 TNV-ML+R Taking the comment at move 5 into ac- count, it should be clear that if both sides fully develop then White will be better. Ac- Kicking the knight immediately makes cordingly, Black undertakes this disruptive sense and forces a concession – Black can manoeuvre in order to hinder White’s devel- misplace either his knight or his bishop. opment. It’s true that his own development 8...Ía6 is similarly hindered, but (after ...Ìd5) his 8...Ìb6 is the alternative, when Black aims queen will have a greater range of options for play down the a-file (...a5-a4) or rapid SCOTCH GAME 33 development (by means of ...Ía6, ...Ëe6 and 9...g5! ...Íb4). This is a perfect example of how good 9 b3 (D) opening moves are found. The reason Black White can also play 9 g3, but I think it’s plays this is because the alternative way to more flexible to defend the c-pawn at once. develop the bishop, 9...g6, runs into 10 f4! when White is prepared to play Ëf2 and Ía3 with unpleasant consequences. Accordingly r+-+kv-t Black realized he needed some more control B z-zpwpzp over f4, while still facilitating his own devel- opment, and came up with this gem. Play l+p+-+-+ typically now runs: +-+nZ-+- 10 g3 Íg7 11 Íb2 0-0 12 Íg2 Îae8 13 -+P+-+-+ 0-0 Íxe5!? 14 Ëxe5 Ëxe5 15 Íxe5 Îxe5 16 cxd5 Íxf1 17 Êxf1 cxd5 +P+-+-+- The endgame is dynamically balanced – if P+-+QZPZ White can keep the rooks in he will be much better, but if they become active White TNV-ML+R could be routed.